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The public space is for / from anyone
dinsdag 29 januari 2013
1961_ Jane Jacobs _ Dood en leven van grote Amerikaanse steden
The public space is for / from anyone
donderdag 24 januari 2013
1948 _ René Magritte _ Shéhérazade
My painting is visible images
which conceal nothing;
they evoke
mystery and,
indeed,
when one sees one
of my
pictures, one asks
oneself this simple question
'What does
that mean'?
It does not mean anything,
because
mystery means
nothingeither
,it is
unknowable."
René Magritte
maandag 21 januari 2013
woensdag 16 januari 2013
Jaime Lerner sings of the city
“A car is
like your mother-in-law: you have to have good relationship with her, but she
cannot command your life.”
Jaime
Lerner reinvented urban space in his native Curitiba, Brazil. Along the way, he
changed the way city planners worldwide see what’s possible in the metropolitan
landscape.
From
building opera houses with wire to mapping the connection between the
automobile and your mother-in-law, Jaime Lerner delights in discovering
eccentric solutions to vexing urban problems. In the process he has transformed
the face of cities worldwide.
dinsdag 15 januari 2013
Landscape Architecture in the developing world
Landscape
Architecture is a broad field of profession. The skills we gain during our
learning and working years as Landscape Architects have potential to improve
not only the social and economic activities in areas of poverty, but also
improve the well-being of lives.
Nonetheless,
what we do to begin is we design by manipulating and adapting with our existing
environment in ways that can benefit urban development as well as enhance
people’s quality of life. We can create changes within the physical space we
inhabit to have a subtle or dramatic effect on others. This is especially true
in a developed part of the world, like ours, where our designing potentials are
put into use to create just about anything- from public squares to gardens to
even getting involved in the creation of the Olympic Stadium! So what is
stopping us from being able to manipulate in a way that will secure the
livelihoods of people? To revive nature that may be dying in places where it is
not deemed as valuable? Regardless of economic status, people need space for
free self-expression and landscape in this sense, can have a very strong
importance.
What do we,
as landscape architects (as designers, as creators), deem as a meaningful
contribution to society? As a community of creators, what are our ideals for
the future? How far can we push the limits to use our skills for the world
that, on one side, is advancing in technology with continual globalization and
on the other side is filled with poverty and personal struggles in creating a
comfortable living space?
There are
many areas in the world where the basic requirements to a happy living are
non-existent. Here is an example:
Children
gardening on bamboo platform
Platform
of Hope
Amidst the
capital of Bangladesh, in Dhaka, exists the slum of Korail. It exists as an
unstable home to 120,000 lives, living under the threat of eviction everyday.
In such a place, areas for the residents to gather or children to play are very
rare. Yet this uncertainty and the worrying questions of when that lives in the
minds of these slum dwellers are lessened by a simple creation proposed by the
landscape architect Khondaker Hasibul Kabir.
Kabir began
living with a family in Korail in 2007 and initiated changes within the
community throughout his stay. As stated by Design with the Other 90%, where
this project was featured, Platform of Hope is a 5.5 x 11 meter bamboo platform
that extends over Gulshan Lake. It is connected to a bamboo bridge that leads to
a community garden. This was all created within a period of three years from
2008 with the help of the family, a local carpenter, and a bamboo worker. The
platform provides a place for adults and children of Korail alike to gather,
creating a sense of community and providing life’s simple pleasures of fresh
air and greenery. The joint efforts and its final results have had a far
greater impact on these residents:
This
example truly shows how just doing small things can create a big difference in
impoverished areas that encourage hope and optimism to its residents, who are
forever dealing with the daily struggles of living a decent life. The platform
and the garden exist as a rare open space. Of course, a large population in
Korail means not all will be able to fully enjoy this simple luxury. However,
this idea can be repeated quite easily, in any slums and impoverished areas of
the world. Large amounts of funding or investments are not needed, this project
shows this. What these communities are waiting for is someone to lead them with
an idea and the initiation. As Landscape Architects, we have the potential and
the skills to be that someone to lend a hand and start making small
differences. If we push the limits of what our profession can accomplish and expand
our horizons, perhaps in the future, there will be many more healthy and happy
communities in the developing areas of the world.
Article
written by Win Phyo
Gedachte / Thought
Het creëren van ruimte om elkaar te ontmoeten gaat op voor alle openbare ruimte in de stad of op het platte land. / Creating space to meet, applies to all public space in the city or on the countryside.
zondag 13 januari 2013
2010_Good Urban Parks and Our Wellbeing
How far of
a walk is a park from you, from your home, work or school? Are there any
significant obstacles in the way such as large parking lots or major
intersections?
The
standard in the literature suggests that a distance of 400m or a 5-minute walk
to a park is ideal, which generally contributes to good neighbourhood design. In
this are two qualities regarding our wellbeing: one, the ability to
conveniently walk to a park and two, being in a park itself.
A park is often defined as a specific type of vegetated open
space providing opportunities for organized and informal recreation from soccer
to bird watching, along with having cultural and aesthetic value. The research
is quite clear in indicating the correlation between recreation and physical
health along with the social benefits of strengthening community bonds,
environmental stewardship and youth development (see “The Health and Social
Benefits of Recreation” [PDF], for further discussion).
The positive benefits of simply being in a park, or being
able to see one from your window and our health, however, has tended to be
anecdotal. More recently however there is growing empirical evidence
recognizing this component of high quality parks.
Here are a few examples (see “Synopsis of 2010 Research
Papers” , for details):
- Hospitals that provide visual access to nature see patient recovery time shortened, as well as lessening the amount of prescribed pain medications and fewer post-op complications.
- People that regularly observe well-vegetated areas have been shown to have improved cognitive function and concentration, along with better at impulse control. This tends to encompass an overall resilience to stressful life events.
- To counter the positive benefits, there is a correlation between low access to green areas and increases in ADHD, clinical depression, stress and anxiety.
- Neighbourhoods that have areas rich in vegetation have lower reported anxiety disorders among citizens. These settings also help induce a greater sense of reliance on community members thus decreasing loneliness and crime.
In this light, we can look at broadening the role or
providing a more holistic definition of a park. Simply, as a component of our
city fabric, they have a role in preventative health care and promotion.
Having access to and spending time in beautiful, healthy
parks correlates with our overall wellbeing. They give us a sense of place, of
meaning, imprint on our collective memory and are a fundamental structure in
creating connections in both ourselves and our greater community. Broadening
our definition of parks will only expand our awareness on how important they
are to good neighbourhood design.
zaterdag 12 januari 2013
vrijdag 11 januari 2013
woensdag 9 januari 2013
2013 _ De mythe van de groene economie
De klok tikt ongenadig: het klimaat verandert. We moeten, zo krijgen we te horen, samenwerken: allemaal samen tegen CO2. Steeds meer ngo’s, bedrijven en politieke partijen vinden elkaar rond de slogan van de ‘groene economie’. Of spreken we beter over ‘groen kapitalisme’? Kiezen voor groen is niet alleen belangrijk om de klimaatverandering tegen te gaan, het maakt een land ook ‘sterker, gezonder, veiliger, innovatiever, competitiever en gerespecteerder’, zo stelt Thomas Friedman, columnist van de The New York Times. ‘Is er iets denkbaar dat vaderlandslievender, kapitalistischer en geostrategischer is dan dat?’ Het boek 'De mythe van de groene economie' ontrafelt de mythe van de groene economie in al haar dimensies: van emissiehandel tot duurzaam consumeren, van bevolkingscontrole tot technologisch optimisme. Maar het tekent ook een aantal krachtlijnen uit voor een alternatief. De transitie naar een duurzame toekomst kan niet zonder diepgaande maatschappijverandering, stellen de auteurs. En zo’n verandering vraagt precies meer sociale gelijkheid, meer democratie en minder markt.
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zondag 6 januari 2013
Pakjes tijd / Gifts time
- How do you know that we have a hammock?
donderdag 3 januari 2013
Op zoek naar nieuwe landschapen / Looking for new landscapes
In 1913, 100 years ago departed from Flanders - Belgium the uncle of my father, Cyrille Ghekiere (37 years) and Hortense Standaert (38 years) with children Cyrilla (1 year), Alberie (4 years), Gustave (6 years) , Maria (8 years), Paul (8 years) and Paula (8 years) to a Belgian settlement east of Valier, Minnesota.
Bij de aankomst / At the arrival
"Foto van je leven" uit het radioprogramma Houtekiet
Meer / More
woensdag 2 januari 2013
1529_Lucas Cranach de Oude _ Venus in het landschap
Roman goddess whose functions encompassed
love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory
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